


sarang equals rak

by Hazel_04



Category: Boylove - Fandom, Romance - Fandom, RuneXKwan, boyxboy - Fandom
Genre: Boy Love, Love, M/M, Romance, School, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25841626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazel_04/pseuds/Hazel_04
Summary: New country, new school, new friends, and new beginnings. Rune Somboon came to South Korea from Thailand to attend school. On the first day of school, he is assigned a mentor for Korean, Lee Kwan. He doesn't know at that time why all of the students looked at him. Is this a new beginning for something? How will things unfold in this new country for Rune and his sister? Will there be peace or will there be chaos? In life trust and relationships are important will Rune and the others find their lives?
Kudos: 6





	1. new beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first time ever posting my work. The chapters are not super long. Feedback is much appreciated. Thank you for choosing to read Sarang equals rak. Hope you like it.

“it was the start of something new”.

Rune and Achara came to jinhae, south Korea a while back. They are siblings, originally from Bangkok, Thailand, who came to jinhae to study. their university started in 2 days and they couldn't be more excited. 

"hey, did you buy your books yet?" Achara asked Rune who was too busy playing games to answer. Achara threw a pillow on his head, "ouch!! I'll take care of it. I'll get it when school starts" he said in an annoyed tone. Their first day of school arrived and both were excited. Achara in the business department and Rune in the music department.

All the other students were nice to both of them and the day was going well. "okay students so I will assign a Korean student for each one of the exchange program students to help you learn the language" the professor announced. It was mandatory for all the foreign exchange students to take Korean as one of their majors. So Rune was assigned with this boy in the row in front of him, Lee Kwan. 

"Hey isn't he the one we saw one that day?" one of the students asked another.

"yes, it was him. Goodness, he was so scary. Hopefully, the newbie doesn't get killed", the other student jokingly said.

Lee Kwan just rolled his eyes.

At the end of class, Rune, being the overly friendly guy went to Kwan. "ummmm anyong....haaseyoo... cho... Rune immnidaa", Rune obviously did not speak proper Korean but tried his best.

"it's fine, I can speak English," Kwan said.  
"Oh that's good, so my name is Rune somboon, I'm from Thailand. nice to meet you", Rune said.

"I'm Kwan Lee". judging his tone Rune understood that he was not really interested in this.

He was right, Kwan was not interested at all. All he wants to do is just maintain a life as a regular student and do not want to be in the center of attraction for anything. He was the last person who would attempt to socialize. 

"Look I'm only doing this because the professor told me to, so don't think we can hang out or have fun", Kwan said.   
Hearing this made Rune want to ask the professor to change his mentor. 

But he thought, what could this guy possibly do? Rune didn't expect such a rude person to be assigned to him on the first day of school. What a nice way to begin my first year in college.

Later that day, he met up with Achara near the school gate after class. 

"Oi! Did you get the books?", she asked knowing that he wouldn’t have gotten it.   
"shit. Wait for me I'll get it"  
"THIS IS WHY SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO ME YESTERDAY!" she shouted at him as he ran.

It was almost time for the sale to end so he ran to find the library, where they were selling the books. Unfortunately, being the new student, he didn't know where the library was and realized he was not familiar with the campus yet and asked the local students but most of them were lost not knowing English. 

His phone was dead and he was lost. Just as he was about to go to the main office, he bumped into someone.

”Kwan!! what happened?” He didn't look too well. 

He held on to Rune and...collapsed. A person fainted on him and he didn't know what to do. Rune tried to wake him up but he wouldn't. The people around started to point towards the main gate indicating to the infirmary. Rune rushed him to the infirmary and told the doctor what had happened.

He piggy-backed him to the infirmary. 

"Doctor! He ran up to me and fainted. Can you help him?!"

"Yes put him on the bed I'll get the materials", the doctor said 

After a while, the doctor told Rune that he had fainted due to acute anemia.   
"Oh thank you, doctor, I will wait here with him till he wakes up. you can go for dinner" he said.

Rune was relieved it was not anything major. Rune decided to wait until he woke up, which was not long. 

As soon as he woke up Rune complained “I missed my chance of getting my books because of you. what the hell happened, bastard?”. But even though he was trying to be annoyed, deep down he knew he wanted to be nice to Kwan.

“Did I ask you to stay? You could've left me on the ground”, Kwan replied.   
"I'll share my books with you till you get yours" Kwan felt apologetic that he was an inconvenience to someone. 

"Hey so let's start classes from this weekend", Kwan said.   
"Sure I'm free"


	2. what is this?

Days had passed and Rune was getting better at Korean. He became really popular due to his good looks and began hanging out with seniors often. Kwan for some reason was mad about this. He wanted to hang out with Rune but he shrugged the thought and went to class. 

They met up again on Saturday. Kwan took Rune to the nearby park to show him the surroundings for better understanding. All the students were actually really surprised at this as Kwan was the last person to take an interest in others’ learning. But as Rune's teacher, he knew that the learning process is way faster when he sees stuff visually. 

"Did you know? Last year the upperclassmen apparently saw Kwan covered in blood and laughing hysterically" Wooseok said.

"Yeah, I know that. He looked really scary according to them. That's why no one talks to him" JIhyo said.

"Be careful with him. I've heard rumors that he blackmailed the teachers to let him go to jinhae university despite his horrible scores in high school", Wooseok said

"Guys ,I don't think he is that bad. He could've been a thug but he doesn't seem like one now", Rune said feeling bad for Kwan.

Rune looked at his watch and said, "Guys its time for class, I'm going, bye". 

He went to the park where Kwan had asked him to come.   
"Hey I'm her. Sorry for the delay, I was caught up with school work" Rune said giving a horrible excuse.   
"I saw you with your new friends", Kwan said emphasizing the friends.

"Sorry haha", Rune said.

During their session, as Kwan explained certain words for Rune, pointing at the tree. He abruptly stopped and brought his arm close to Rune's face. Rune's first thought was that he was going get beat up by this thug. He was ready to get a slap for all the mistakes he had done. 

A speeding ball hit Kwan's had and bounced on the ground. Everything happened so quickly that Rune could not process it. Rune’s heart was beating so fast and he closed his eyes. He stopped the ball from hitting my face, Rune thought. Instantly Rune felt bad of what he thought of Kwan. When he opened his eyes, Kwan was standing right above him and his torso was right in front of Rune’s face. wow. 

Kwan kicked the ball towards the building away from the park toward the buildings The kids who kicked the ball ran to the building winning about what Kwan did.

“Kids, don’t you have to be careful playing in the public! little brats”, he cursed at them as he sat down. 

“Hey, they are just kids. Don’t scold them”. Rune finally came to his senses after Kwan sat down.

Kwan noticed how Rune looked at that moment vividly. He saw the fear in Rune’s eyes when he reached out to block the ball. Even though it was momentary, he knew that those bastards told him everything. Kwan was not aware of why he was feeling this way all of a sudden. He was more confused than before as to why he was feeling things he had never felt before

He wanted to feel the Rune’s breadth on his torso again. Later both walked to school together awkwardly. Their hearts raced but neither could tell why. How will they know? They had no idea about love. They were never interested in any of this. Kwan went to his dorm googled why is my heart beating so fast? so many results popped up- love, disease, conditions blah blah. He was confused but kept thinking about the same thing over and over again- Rune. Fuck. why do I keep thinking about that bastard?

The next day Rune went to enroll in some clubs. From middle school, he had played tennis at school. He went to the club room opened the door. Kwan!? Why is he here?!.

"You must be Rune! come in" the senior indicated that he better enter and give his name or he is dead.   
"Yes thank you senior" he awkwardly said and sat next to Kwan.

This year there weren’t many freshmen who joined the tennis club so the senior took advantage and wrote his name. Of course, in Korea, if a senior says something the juniors must obey. 

Oh, why does it always have to be him?


	3. mine

Rune found out that Kwan came to this club because it had the least members. He didn't know a thing about sports let alone tennis. It was Kwan, Rune, and a senior, Han jisoo in the club. Yeah, only three members.

surprisingly, the people in this particular school were not interested in tennis. Anyway, Rune couldn’t speak proper Korean, he was lucky to have Kwan at that moment. They introduced themselves and started playing. 

"Okay so everyone is here let's start our practice," jisoo said.

The sight of Kwan trying to hold the racket cracked them up. He was struggling to hit the ball and always managed to drop it.

“Look how he is trying to hold the racket”, jisoo said.

Rune went to help him. He held Kwan’s arms with his.

“Hold the racket like this”, he indicated. 

Rune was so focused on teaching him that he didn't realize how close he was to Kwan. Kwan could feel his breath on his back. Kwan’s heart was pounding against his chest. Thump, thump, thump. 

Kwan dropped the racket and turned around to face Rune and before he knew it his body started moving on its own. Kwan pecked Rune on his lips. When he came back to his senses, he was so embarrassed that he left his grasp on Rune and ran out of the club room. Rune was shaken. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to this situation. 

“where is Kwan?” Jisoo asked entering the court with a bag of drinks in his hand.

“Senior, I’ll start practice tomorrow, I have to leave now. I'm sorry" he said and he rushed out of the room.

Rune was not sure if he liked Kwan as a man. Kwan ran back to his dorm and just laid on his bed pondering about the same thing. Rune figured Kwan would be in his room and decided to check there. 

He remembered the week before, during class when Kwan was explaining expressions in Korean. 

“Hengbok in happiness, Silpeun is sadness, miwo is hate and sarang is love”, Kwan looked happy explaining, he thought.  
Later that day, they went back to class and the professor said that they had to prepare for a competition against other schools in the city. 

Rune got the perfect opportunity to call him. 

“Hey Lee Kwan, we have to prepare for the performance right? Open the door” Rune said in his best possible Korean.

Luckily that day he brought his guitar to tennis practice. Kwan remembered when he thought him those words during class when the professor told them about the competition and smiled thinking about how cute Rune sounded when speaking Korean to him. 

Kwan opened the door and said in an apologetic tone, “Look I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over. Just forget about it”, Kwan was not ready to face him yet.

“It's okay, its been months already since we met, Don’t you know me?” Rune knew he can't get over it instantly but at the same time, Kwan was way too precious for him to lose at this point. 

He went in behind Kwan and both of them sat on the bed. 

“Okay, so what songs are we going to play?” Kwan asked bringing his guitar. 

Suddenly Rune thought of the moment during the practice. His brown eyes looking right into his eyes. It was beautiful. At the time all he could think of was Kwan. Lee Kwan why are you making me lose my shit! Wait, do I like him!? Rune realized something. Why did he want to feel Kwan's warmth and why did he look forward to meeting him? His line of thoughts was broken by Kwan strumming his guitar. Amongst all his thoughts he was tuning his guitar beside him. He began playing his songs to Rune. Rune was mesmerized by his beauty throughout the songs. 

After Kwan finished his part, Rune, shrugging off the thoughts began playing. He looks so good while singing. How can someone have such a nice voice? Kwan thought. He was trapped in Rune’s music. He could watch Rune sing all day long. I’m in love. I’m so much in love with this thai boy, he thought. 

Suddenly he asked, “Hey, do you know how pretty my sight is?”.   
“What!?”, Rune became bright red.

“Rune, it's my first time experiencing this”, Kwan said, coming close to Rune. 

“Wait, uhh, is this the right thing to do?”, the way you look at me is different, but I want you to keep looking at me like that, Kwan thought. 

“I like you, Kwan!”. Rune kissed him. He couldn't hold back thinking of the future. He liked Kwan.

“Rune are you sure you can handle me?”, Kwan meant it to be funny but he did wonder what Rune would say when he confronts his past. “I know I can”, Rune said smiling.

Happiness was in another country, Rune thought as he slept in Kwan’s arms that night.

“Don’t you miss Thailand?”, Kwan asked suddenly. “yes, I do”.

“Let's go there sometime. I want to see Bangkok. Will you take me?”, Kwan made a puppy face which made Rune laugh.

“Yes, we can go sometime. There is a lot of places I want to take you to”, Rune was way more excited to take Kwan to his hometown.  
"It's not anytime soon but I will take you," Rune said after a pause.


	4. is this fate?

Achara headed to school one morning and on her way, she saw a dog running astray. such a cute dog, I wonder if it got lost, she thought. It came next to her and sat down wagging its tail in front of her.

“Do you want it?”, she asked giving some crackers to it. The dog wagged its tail and happily ate them. 

“Tara, what are you doing here!??”, a tall man came running towards her.  
“I’m so sorry, did she trouble you?”, he spoke in Korean.

She was not good at Korean but managed to understand him. 

"Umm can you speak Korean?”, he asked. 

“Oh, yes a little, haha”, she replied awkwardly. Achara realized he didn’t look Korean either. 

“You don't look like your from around here..,”.  
“Yes, I’m here for college”, he told. His accent was so unique, she thought.

she liked how he spoke. “I study in Jinhae college, by any chance do you go there?”, he asked.

“yes, I do, how.. did you know?”, she was surprised he knew her.

“No wonder you seemed familiar. Don’t you remember? On the first day we met during book collection?”, he asked. He was surprised at how much she could carry on that day.

“Ahh, you were the one who offered me help to carry the books? I’m sorry, I didn't see your face at that time”.

“Are you going to school now?”, she asked.

“Yeah, I’ll head to school right after I leave Tara back at home”, he said. 

Achara had already fallen for Tara. She always wanted a puppy but sadly Her father was allergic to animal hair so they could never get one. So she was excited to see a dog in a long time. In fact, she was playing with Tara while talking to him. He could see how much she liked Tara.

”If you want you can accompany us”, he offered.

”Really?!!, I want to walk her!”, she was so excited grabbing the leash from him.

“By the way, my name is Achara and I’m from Thailand”, she said bowing. “Hello Achara, My name is Harsh, I’m from India”, he said. 

They began walking towards his house after introducing themselves. 

“So which part of India are you?”, Achara actually had a huge interest in India from when she was young. 

Her grandmother used to tell Achara and Rune so many stories about Indian princes and princesses.

“I’m from Tamil Nadu, Chennai, I doubt you know about it”, he said. 

“No, I know a lot about Chennai. My grandmother had a friend from Chennai who told her about India and she would tell all of it to us”. 

Harsh was thrilled to hear it. He always had to explain his origin in Jinhae because most people weren’t aware of India. After a long time, he was happy to meet someone who knew where Chennai was! 

"Let's hang out more at school. You seem like a fun person'', Achara said. He also agreed to meet up during breaks. They dropped off Tara and headed to school. 

Different cultures meeting together is a beautiful thing, Achara thought. All the diversity within India and around the world was amazing to Harsh. Even though there were moments when people were racist but at the end of the day there were more amazing people in his life.

At school, Rune and Kwan were practicing in the music room.

"Kwan that's wrong". Rune went over him to teach him how to play certain chords. 

Holding the guitar, he gently placed his hands over Kwan's and told him the exact placements. Both of them looked at each other and smiled. From that day they had been practicing every day for the competition. Its almost been two weeks since Rune and Kwan got together. Rune had almost forgotten what his friends had told him.

He trusted Kwan. Even if he beat up people in the past, he was not the same person. He was really nice to Rune. Kwan was happy with Rune and never wanted to go back to his past self either. But how long can he be contained before he explodes?


	5. Lee Kwan

Kwan was in junior year of high school when it all started. He was bullied by his classmates from the day he joined the school for his vulnerable look. He was a small puny kid who always sat at the corner of the class. He met seojun during class, one of the top students in their grade. He was assigned as Kwan's seatmate. He was a nice and kind boy who helped him when he was in trouble. He was Kwan’s first friend Kwan learned how to fight from him. He was naturally a good fighter. 

They would meet up after school to practice.

“Kwan, I finally asked Miso out. She said yes!” he exclaimed happily to him.

Miso was the most popular girl at their school and seojun, just like the other guys also had a crush on her. She had finally agreed to be his girlfriend. Kwan was equally happy for him. He was never interested in her.

From then onward he would always bring her along with him. Kwan never objected but did not enjoy looking at them flirting together. Slowly Seojun stopped showing up to practices. So Kwan would practice by himself. They still up at school. 

One day Kwan saw Seojun and a couple of other guys walking to school. Just as he was about to call him, he recognized them. The people who made his life miserable until he met Seojun. But at that time even he was with them... 

The next day after school he saw Seojun outside a cafe and ran to him. “seojun, its been so long since we practiced together son you want to go?” he asked with a big smile on his face. 

“No, just go away why would I hang out with you,” Seojun said. Kwan couldn’t understand what had happened.

“Hey loser good to see you again hoe have you been?” from behind him came the guys who bullied him back then.

The same dirty smirk, Kwan thought. He finally grasped the situation. Seojun sided with them, he thought.   
“But why?” he whispered to himself. He was so mad at seojun. For the past three years, all he had was Seojun.

But his friend turned his back against him. He lifted his arm and slapped Seojun across the face. The other guys started coming at him along with Seojun. Kwan was furious that he did not think of anything else and showed all his anger on them. It was later that he found out that one of the bullies was Miso's brother. Seojun, for the sake of his girlfriend, sided with them.

“Hey, students stop fighting!“, a police officer ram towards them shouting.

By then Kwan had already beat them up so much that they were bleeding. They were taken to the hospital and Kwan was taken to the police station. Later his teacher came and got him out. Unfortunately, this was not the end of it. 

The bully was the son of the school’s principal. He secretly sent a bunch of thugs to beat him up. During that time he was right in front of Jinhae college at a restaurant. A couple of people charged at him suddenly. He was quick in his movements. They were a piece of cake for him. It was in the middle of the night. He went all out and beat up all of them. But he was seen by the students. From that day onwards everyone feared him because of how he looked laughing like a madman.

"So from that time, people don't want to talk to me or be near be. So I also just stayed away from them. You were my first friend in college", Kwan told Rune.

Rune felt bad for Kwan. The two of them were in Rune's apartment. Achara had not come back yet so it was the two of them.

To light up the mood, Rune offered to play games with him. Kwan agrees. He was really good at games. He used to play all the time during his school years. Rune was not an easy opponent either, He had finally gotten a worthy opponent. His sister would never play with him so he played all alone but was exceptionally good in multi-player! 

"Hey go down go lower!

"you go in front go! yeah, that's the spot. stand there don't move!

"Kids these days", the next door lady sighed. 

The boys were into gaming they didn't realize how both of them sounded. Poor neighbor misunderstood the situation.

Just like that, they continued throughout the night.


	6. choice

The day of the competition approached and all the rooms were packed with students practicing. The music department was filled with music and excitement. This was an important competition to show the world about their talents.

“Okay, let's practice for one last time and wrap up for today”, Kwan said. 

“Can we finish now, please? I’m so tired” Rune pouted.

“Fine. But you better show up tomorrow early. If you come late I’ll punish you” Kwan said with a smirk. 

The day after was the competition and all the participants were supposed to wear something that matched the concept of their songs. 

“Hey, I’m here. How do I look?” Rune looked at himself in the mirror.  
Rune was a tall and slim figure with black hair covering his forehead and eyebrows. He had dark eyes and bright skin. The wore a striped shirt half tucked in with light blue jeans and black sneakers.

"you look fine as always," Kwan said. He very much liked this look on Rune.

Kwan also had a slim and tall physique but a little short than Rune. He had dark brown hair that fell over his right eye and had light brown eyes that looked golden in front of the sun. He wore something a little formal, white t-shirt with some blue pants a blue coat. 

"You look good too. Now let's go and have fun on stage", Rune said and both of them left the dressing room with a smile on their faces.

The event ended by noon and the winners were announced and unfortunately, their performance did not qualify.

"It was a fun event, right? I enjoyed it a lot", Rune said.

"yeah it was fine," Kwan said looking at Rune. 

They headed to the library to study a little. later headed to Kwan's dorm to pick up Rune's guitar. 

"Rune! Is that you?" a person asked in Thai.

"Pete...How are you here in Korea?" Rune was shocked to see him there.

"Kwan, can you wait in your room? He was my classmate. I'll talk to him for some time.  
"Sure take your time I'll wait for you," Kwan said and went inside his dorm room. for some reason, he didn't feel like it was his friend. But he shrugged the thought and went in anyways.

"Let's go somewhere else", Ruen said with a stern face.

They went to Pete's hotel room where he was staying.

"You are living well I see", Pete said. He only thought about how this loser could live as nothing happened in another country.  
"I've already told you that I had nothing to do with me", Rune said. He was surprised to see Pete. He knows Rune from childhood, he knows his past and everything. 

"At that time no one caught you but I'll make sure to catch you red-handed one day. I know why you came here. To find his remains right?" Pete said. Rune could see the hatred in his eyes.

"I have a life here don't open your mouth and ruin it," Rune said. He was a little frightened inside but didn't show it.

"After all the lives you ruined-"  
"I TOLD YOU I DIDNT DO IT" Rune was enraged because of Pete's constant accusations that he grabbed his collar.

"Look at you", Pete smirked, "Its no doubt you're the son of the criminal. your mother killed her own husband right!?" Pete yelled.  
He was right Rune's mother killed his father. She committed suicide right after that. Rune and Achara were only little kids at that point and were sent to an orphanage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for the cliff hanger. What do you guys think about this sudden plot twist? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!


	7. secrets

“You don't know anything about my family and your no way related to it. So stay out of it.” Rune said still grabbing Pete’s collar.

“you are a criminal’s son, the evidence was not enough but nothing can be confirmed right?” Pete’s brother was one of the victims of Rune’s mother. Only after she was caught murdering her husband, it was revealed that she had killed Pete’s brother also.

“I’m sorry for what my mother had done but I was never a part of it nor do I wanted to be part of it”, Rune never wanted to face this situation. He came to Korea because he was discriminated against for the sole reason that his mother was a killer. Moreover, his sister became more of a victim than him which hurt him. He wanted to leave the country for good. He wanted a normal childhood just like any other kid.

He shrugged off his thoughts and focused on Pete. He was in Korea to live like a normal student.

“Pete I’m sorry, But don't spout nonsense about this alright?” Rune asked politely.

Pete Smirked “fine”, he said.

Rune was assured and quickly left to the library. Please let this not be known to Kwan. I want to be normal. I want my sister to have a normal life. He was lost in thoughts as he ran.

He approached the library and messaged Kwan to meet him outside. He was in no mood to study. All he wanted to was just be with Kwan.

"Hey, I'm here. What happened? Why do you look down?", Kwan asked as soon he saw Rune.

"Nothing. I am just tired", Rune said awkwardly. He buried his face in Kwan's shoulder. He just wanted to stay like that in Kwan's warmth. Kwan just stood there and let him be. Kwan knew something was wrong. But he didn't want to compel Rune to say it.

"Can we have some dinner? I'm starving." Kwan said, touching his stomach indicating he was hungry.  
"Sure. Let's go eat malatang"

"Ma'am, can we have some soju here?" Kwan asked. The owner got us some soju. It was actually Rune's first time trying soju in Korea. He was the type to drink orange juice in a bar. All his friends and Kwan always asked him to drink but he always passed. But this time he didn't refuse. As soon as they got their glasses he indicated Kwan to pour some for him. Kwan was more than happy to pour for him. 

By the end of dinner, Rune was extremely drunk. He was spouting nonsense.

"Kwan you won't leave me righty", he said trying to lift his head from the table, obviously not in his right mind. Yeah its time to stop, Kwan thought.

"Yes yes, I won't. you have asked a million times. Now let's leave before you pass out", Kwan said trying to hold Rune. He was wobbling everywhere talking about random stuff. 

"You...KnOw...I..wIlL..ShOw...alL..of...tHeM WhO-"

"Hey don't pass out!!" Rune completely passed out. Great now I have to carry him, Kwan thought. Honestly, Kwan was worried about Rune. 

They reached his apartment and knocked on the door. Achara opened the door to see passed out Rune and Kwan struggling to carry him.

"Oh you reek of alcohol", she held her nose as she made way for Kwan to enter. "How much did he drink?", she was surprised because Rune rarely drank.

"Actually he met someone named Pete today and went to talk with him", Kwan said hoping she would know something. She did know something and seemed anxious hearing this.

"Did he say anything to you?'' Achara asked. She looked nervous and bit her nails.

"No, he didn't. Is there a problem?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys do leave a comment and let me know what you think :)) Thanks again for reading.


	8. half

“Not really. Haha don’t worry about it,” she paused awkwardly for a moment and said, “look at the time! Its already so late, you can stay here for the night.

“Thanks! I will sleep here then. Can you give me a pillow and blanket?”  
Kwan was not yet convinced and wanted to know more but realized it was not the right time to ask.

The next morning, Rune woke up with an awful headache and feeling nauseous. With eyes, half-opened he went to the kitchen to get some water and spotted Kwan sitting up in the sofa wrapped up with a blanket from head to toe. He turned to look at him with his sunken eyes with heavy under-eye bags. 

Startled by his appearance, Rune asked, "Kwan!! Why are you here an why are you looking like that?"

"Why do you think? It's because of you bastard," he said monotonously.

"Did I make a mistake yesterday?" Rune asked.

"I carried you all the way back and you were snoring extremely loudly I thought my ears will burst," Kwan said glaring at Rune.

"Sorry, I had a lot on my mind yesterday that's why I drank so much. I'll make it up to you. Tell me what do you want?" Rune said with puppy eyes trying to cool down Angry Kwan.

"YOu"  
"..."  
"I said, you. I want you"  
"But my sister is in the other room"  
"you said you will make it up to me."

Kwan came closer to Rune Pushing him onto the handrest of the sofa. He brought his face closer to Rune's, looking at his lips. Before Kwan came any closer, Rune placed his pointer finger on Kwan's lips.

"Let's go brush first", Rune pushed Kwan off of him and giggled as he made his way to brush.

"You little idiot, I am going to punish you", Kwan said clenching his teeth.

"Keep saying that. But now come and help me brush", Rune shouted from the bathroom.

"Fair enough," Kwan said and went to the bathroom cheerfully.

Achara skipped class that day saying she didn't feel too well. So the boys left for college.

"I'll first get some medicine for Achara and then meet you in class", Rune said and went to the nearby pharmacy.

Kwan said okay and headed to his class. Rune opened the door of their apartment. He spotted a pair of black shoes and rushed inside Achara's room. Who could have come here? he thought. 

"Hey go left go left!"  
"Not there the loot is right behind you. Try to get as much as possible"  
"Yeah, I got it lets-" 

"Is this how sick you were?" Rune asked with a straight face seeing Achara and...Harsh playing video games. He facepalmed himself.

"Big Brother! Say hello to Harsh. We are classmates.", Achara said laughing awkwardly. She called him big brother only when she wanted to fluster him.

He didn't mind this honestly because coming to South Korea, she always stayed with him and Kwan or alone. But right at that moment, there were more serious things to discuss.

"You guys better be in class on time or else...", he gestured 'getting killed' by brushing his thumb horizontally on his neck while giving them the death stare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter. I'll try to post more. Thanks for reading!!!


	9. Brothers

After Rune left, Achara and Harsh looked at each other. They decided its good t head to school if they don’t want their heads to be ripped off. Achara had told Harsh about her brother already. 

“Sorry about that, I kind of told him I was sick to hang out with you”, Achara said with an awkward smile.

“No worries, but you didn’t have to do that. We could have gone to my house instead,” Harsh.

“Why didn’t I think of that?! I could have seen Tara too!” she exclaimed.

“We can still skip school and go…” both, giggled like kids and headed out.

The two of them decided to take the risk of being “killed” by Rune and went off to Harsh’s house. Achara and Tara were happy to see each other. While Harsh prepared them some snacks and Tara, some dog food, Achara was in her world. After a while, Tara went to sleep.

“So tell me something about yourself. How was your life in Thailand?” harsh asked. 

Rune had reached school and went to class at that time. Kwan was waiting for him in the corridor, 

"Why are you coming so early?" He asked sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, Achara was not sick, she was in fact with a boy", Rune said. It sounded just like what a conservative parent would say.

"Let her be. She is not a baby", Kwan said. 

Their class started. Kwan was playing a piece for a demonstration for the freshmen. Rune had to collect names for the freshmen wishing to enroll in their tennis club. He couldn't believe a year had passed already. It seemed like it was last week that he met Kwan. He smiled to himself thinking about the classes they had together. He saw Jisoo practicing.

"Hey senior, how are you?", Rune asked. He had taken a year off to finish his military service. All the while he was gone, Rune took care of the club. But it was more like a place for a date for Rune and Kwan.

"Hey junior, I'm back! how are you? Is Kwan still horrible at holding the racket?" he jokingly asked.

"I trained him a lot, we practiced together you see", Rune said knowing that didn't happen.

"excuse me, I wish to join the tennis club", a freshman student told Jisoo. 

"You can go give your name to him", JIsoo said pointing at Rune who was in the court.

The junior went up to Rune and said," Senior I'm here to join the club".

It was Pete!!  
Rune pulled him by his arm outside the club room and asked: ", what are you doing here?"  
"the same thing as you. I'm here to study", he said expressionlessly.

Rune, for some reason, trusted him.  
"I'm trusting you. For your brother, I will trust you. I knew how much he loved you", Rune said. One could tell how close both of them were. Back when they were small, the four of them would be the highlight of their town. They would meet up in the morning, Rune, Achara, Pete, and his brother, Kiet. Rune and Kiet went to the same preschool and were good friends. His mother hated her children having fun with other people. It was proved when she was arrested, that she has depression and anti-social disorder. she was not in a sound mind. So she killed Kiet one day when he was playing outside with a puppy.

When Rune found out Kiet died he was devastated. Furthermore when It was revealed it was his mother who did it because she didn't want Rune to hang out with him devastated him even more. He wouldn't eat for a week after his mother was jailed. 

"I'm equally angry at my mother for what she did. He was my best friend", tears started brimming his eyes as he spoke to Pete.

"Our mother had told us not to be with your psycho family, if only Kiet listened, he would've still been alive", Pete was sorry for Rune but at the same time, he was even more sorry for his brother. He knew how close the two were. It was a happy time, he thought.

"Okay I got to leave, if you want any help call me on this number", Rune said as he wiped his tears. He was honestly happy to see him las time. He looks so much like his brother, he thought.


	10. revelation

Achara wanted to answer that question. Honestly, she wanted Rune to tell Kwan. After all, he was with them for more than a year. 

"It was not great", She said looking straight into Harsh's eyes. He was not sure how to reply.

"Ohh, why? What happened?" he asked genuinely curious.

Achara told him what had happened and why the siblings chose to move to a foreign country. All of the hard times. She told him everything. He was taken aback. After this, he understood why Rune was extremely protective of his sister. 

"Wait, but why are you telling me all of this?" he asked.

"You're my first friend here and thought you are trustworthy. Am I wrong?" She grinned. She did trust him but deep down, she contemplated whether what she just did right or not. She was worried if he would spread false rumors

"Of course I am! you're also my first friend" he smiled from ear to ear. 

Like any other human, he was frightened by her past. Being a killer's daughter is a scary thing. He wanted to be for her though. It must have been hard for the two. He thought about what his mother had said to him. In the end, it's your choice, She had said. He wanted to trust her and he chose to do so. 

Achara left his house later. She couldn't stop thinking about him. 

"How can someone be so cute?" she said out loud to herself. 

A week back she when she was going to meet him, she felt different. Her feelings started from then. Without realizing she had fallen in love with him. She couldn't understand the reason but she was automatically attracted to him. She didn't want to tell it yet. Happily thinking about him she hopped to her apartment.

"Achara will not come, right?", Kwan asked snuggled up in Rune's arms.

Rune pecked him on his lips and said," she said she will be studying int he library tonight". 

"So it's only me and you", Kwan whispered into Rune's ear.  
Rune agreed and pulled Kwan closer.

"What are you guys doing!!??", Achara screamed entering into the house. 

The two of them were astonished to see her. 

"I should've told you earlier...." Rune muttered. Rune and Kwan were sitting on the ground on their knees.

"then why didn't you?! It's fine to tell me now", she demanded.

"We..we..are dating", Kwan said turning away from the other two. 

"Why? Are you embarrassed about dating my brother?", Achara asked looking at Kwan, who turned away looking embarrassed.

"NO! Of course not I love him", Kwan yelled, surprised at her question.

Achara giggled, she couldn't be happier. Kwan was equally her brother.

"I was kidding you...should have seen your face", she burst out laughing.

Rune hugged her and Kwan followed him. Suddenly the doorbell rang.  
"who is it?", Rune went to open the door. 

"it's me! I've got some pizza!", Harsh exclaimed, making his way into the house. 

"HEyyyyy, come here", Achara said with a big smile.

"You didn't smile even when I came home yesterday after days of staying in the library for exams", Rune looked at Kwan indicating that there was something fishy going on between them.

The little get together was more fun than they expected. All of them got to know a little more about each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback much appreciated!!


	11. if only

The four of them stayed together and played games almost throughout the night and passed out around 2 AM in the morning. Their exams finally ended and they could sleep in without having to worry.

"We need to tell Kwan", Achara said to Rune. The two of them had woken up before the other two and were in Rune's room.

"Yeah, even I thought so. But are you sure you can trust that guy, Harsh, and tell him too?", Rune asked, looking concerned.

"I Actually...told him already..", Achara said scratching the back of her neck.

"Well, looks like he is fine with it seeing him here", Rune was delighted to hear this. And he was assured that even if they get together, he wouldn't have to worry much. But being the elder one he had the protective older brother instinct.

"Alright. I'll tell him today", Rune was ready to open up completely to Kwan.

Kwan was the last one to wake up. The other three were already up and ready for the day.

"Wakey wakey. let's wake up shall we?", Rune pinched Kwan's little cheeks.

"Ahhh, that hurts", Kwan exclaimed pressing his palm onto his cheeks and frowned.

"Come fast we something important to talk about", Rune told as he made his way to the dining table where the four of them were sitting down.

While Rune was pondering by himself the night before, he realized that he was not like how he used to be. Every time, his parents were brought up he used to fret.

He had always pitied himself and his sister thinking that they were the only ones with horrible lives and everyone else lived happily with their little families. But now, he was not afraid to speak about the past.

He figured that each and everyone had their own problems and spent nights crying and that both of them were not the only ones. 

The reason for coming to Jinhae and starting a new life was due to the mishap but at the same time, due to the same reason, he was able to find someone precious.

He wanted to stop pitying themselves. He was not alone. All of this was not a coincidence, He thought as he fell into slumber.

"You must've had a hard time Rune", Kwan hugged Rune with blobs of tears brimming his eyes.

"It's all for the good, the reason that led us here", Rune said trying to console him.

Kwan finally was able to discover Rune. He felt hurt just by thinking about what kind of situation they would've been in. However, he was convinced that the unfortunate event had brought Rune to him. His fear of losing his loved ones made him reject happiness given to him by anyone.

"There is one more thing to confess", Achara lifted her arm, distracting everyone who was in their deep thoughts.

"Harsh!! I like you!", She said as quickly as she could and closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

Harsh was taken aback for a moment, but he knew what his answer would be.

"I think you said 'Harsh' instead of 'Tara' ", He laughed.

As much as she like Tara, this was not the time to misinterpret her confession. She took a lot of efforting conveying this. Achara pouted and folded her arms in disappointment.

"I'm just kidding, I like you too, Achara, I've come to realize my feelings recently but I was also afraid...that it might end our friendship permanently if things go wrong", he told walking towards her. 

He held her hands not thinking about anything else and kissed her.

"Hey!! What are you guys doing?", Rune loudly said covering his face.

Kwan cheered and turned to Rune. He couldn't resist the cuteness and pecked on his cheeks.

Harsh couldn't be happier, he wanted to keep her safe within his arms.

"Don't you guys think it will be awesome to go and eat now", Kwan said rubbing his tummy. Rune laughed.

He took a piece of toast from his plate and stuffed it into Kwan's mouth. He kept mumbling with it in his mouth and the others laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know I took longer than usual to upload this. I'm thankful for the readers who stuck around. Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it.


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